Air force -- Rosemarie Andolino

Air force Airports head Rosemarie Andolino is bringing O'Hare expansion in for a landing

On a recent morning at O'Hare Airport's international terminal, Rosemarie Andolino is running on only a few hours of sleep. Nevertheless, the city's aviation commissioner, who routinely thumbs BlackBerry emails to her staff at 2:30 a.m. and again at 5 a.m., barely is able to take a bite of her Cuban sandwich because she is so busy talking.

Ms. Andolino, 46, is busy for good reason. One of the few holdovers from former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's administration, Ms. Andolino directs the world's second-busiest airport. She oversees some of the most complex and polarizing undertakings of any city department: an $8 billion expansion project, a possible privatization of Midway International Airport and the distribution of $300 million in concessions contracts. And then there's ensuring the safety of the 86 million passengers that pass through the city's airports annually.

“It's overwhelming,” Ms. Andolino says. “When you think of all those different things, you sigh and you feel like, 'Oh my gosh, what did I get myself into?' “

Ms. Andolino, a protege of Mr. Daley, has spent her entire career in the public sector. After graduating from DePaul University with a marketing degree and a minor in Spanish, she took a job with the City Council committee on transportation. After several other city posts, she moved to the Department of Planning and Development, where she became first deputy commissioner, working on commercial, industrial and residential initiatives such as the Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation.

In 2003, with no aviation background, she was asked by Mr. Daley to run the massive expansion project at O'Hare—the city's economic engine and its front door to the world. “It was going to be a huge task, and one that basically everybody out there was saying was going to fail,” she says.

Ms. Andolino is described by those who know her as passionate, persistent, high-strung—and effective. “She is tireless. She is enthusiastic. She is energetic,” former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says. “More than anything, Rosie will be remembered for taking O'Hare to the next level.”

She is one of four department heads that Rahm Emanuel kept on after he became mayor. Some say her retention was unexpected, but with an ailing school system and escalating street violence, the mayor likely had more immediate issues that needed attention. But many believe Ms. Andolino has been a stabilizing force for the airports.

“Rahm and I spoke when he got elected about a number of transportation issues,” Mr. LaHood says. “What I told him was that in order to really continue the progress that was being made . . . Rosie was probably the best person to carry on.”

A striking woman with an olive complexion that reveals her Sicilian roots, Ms. Andolino lives in the McKinley Park neighborhood with her husband, Mark Fary, a former alderman, and their two “spoiled” Maltese pups, Lucia and Piccolina. The couple have no children, and they spend their free time working out and trying new restaurants. “Unfortunately, there are sacrifices that you make along the way,” she says, referring to the demands of the job. “For me, it is my family and my friends.”

The O'Hare expansion is on time and under budget, even though United Airlines and American Airlines threatened to block the project with a lawsuit in 2011; it was settled after Mr. LaHood intervened.

“Whatever bottlenecks occurred, she saw to it that the problem was solved,” says Lester Crown, Chicago financier and longtime advocate of O'Hare expansion.

This fall, the last runway of the first expansion phase will open. By 2015, with the opening of another runway and control tower, Ms. Andolino says the expansion will be 75 percent complete. “And it could be that 75 percent of the job is adequate,” Mr. Crown says. Still under consideration are another runway and a western terminal.

Last week, Mr. Emanuel announced the city would break ground on an $800 million intermodal facility at O'Hare after securing a $288 million federal loan. The project will include space for rental cars, public parking and a bus plaza, as well as an extension of the people mover airport transit system.

Ms. Andolino has spearheaded a drive to make O'Hare a leader in sustainability. She organizes the annual Airports Going Green conference. In late July, goats, llamas and burros were brought on as an unorthodox addition to O'Hare's lawn-mowing team. The interview for this article was conducted in the airport's herb garden in Terminal 3. The garden, which supplies restaurants at the airport, is the first of its kind in the world.

“I would characterize her as fearless when it comes to dealing with these issues,” says Jeff Fegan, CEO of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Still, Ms. Andolino's salary trails those of several other big airport directors. According to a database of Illinois public-sector employees maintained by the Chicago- based Better Government Association, Ms. Andolino earns $179,109 a year. Mr. Fegan, who retires at the end of August, makes $415,000. Gina Marie Lindsey, general manager of Los Angeles World Airports, earns $355,419, city records show. And Louis Miller, general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest, makes more than $200,000, according to published reports.

Although she's been courted for high-paying positions in the private sector, Ms. Andolino is staying put. “She is a Chicagoan to the core,” says Dominic DiFrisco, a longtime friend and senior consultant at Chicago-based Edelman Inc. “It's beyond being a job. It's a challenge that she was given.”

quote|Ray LaHood, former secretary,U.S. Transportation Department

More than anything, Rosie will be remembered for taking O'Hare to the next level."

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